The Capture
by NeverWillGrowUp
Summary: This is the end of Catching Fire from Peeta's perspective when he gets captured by the Capitol. Read and Review!


Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Peeta's Perspective - Chapter 26

All that goes through my mind is Katniss's face, over and over. Panem's anthem plays throughout the arena, along with the faces of today's slain being projected into the artificial sky. As the last face disappears, I finally exhale, telling myself that Katniss is beside me. That she has survived the day. But the day isn't over yet.

It was when Beetee's plan was announced that I had that feeling. That feeling that you get when you know your luck is about to run dry. My amputated leg aches at the thought of losing her today, after all that we've done together. I remember promising myself that I wouldn't let anything happen to her in these gruesome Games.

If the plan is executed properly, Beetee and Finnick will wrap the tree with the metal wire, while Katniss and Johanna run the wire down to the lake. When the lightning strikes the tree like it does everyday, the wire will run the electricity to the lake. The lake will be electrocuted, along with the beach, still wet from the storm. Hopefully the other tributes don't see it coming until it's too late. The other tributes, the enemies, are unaware of their inevitable, shocking death. See what I did there? Even the smallest joke keeps my morale high enough to let me stay sane for another day. Judging from the position of the moon, I guess that it's about ten-thirty. The lightning strikes the tree at midnight.

I look back at the last few days in the Games, and how our small but effective group has figured out many things, solved puzzles, and found lots of tools before the other alliances had. We quickly noticed that the arena represented a clock, and how every hour a new way to be killed presented itself. But that's nothing compared to what we now know is stopping us from escaping our deaths. The most important component discovered has been the force field. After all, every Hunger Games arena has had one. Touching it can result in death, but throwing uncooked food at it leaves you with a nicely cooked meal, and a full stomach afterward. Having a force field makes sense, I guess. How else would you expect to keep the tributes in the arena? You wouldn't.

There's another small length of wire by Beetee's feet tied around a dagger. I don't know what it's for, but I decide that I'll leave everything electricity-related to him. I look up at Beetee and Finnick as they finish their part of the plan, and I can't help but notice that they have left me with nothing to contribute. I'm too slow with my new prosthetic leg, but if Katniss was in danger, I wouldn't let a disability stop me from making sure that she was safe in my arms.

"Unwind the wire as you run," Beetee explains. "And don't let Enobaria, Brutus, or Chaff see you. All of our planning goes down the drain if they do."

As the two women turn towards the direction of the lake, I cry out. "I want to go with you. As a guard."

Johanna giggles at the thought of me trying to hobble along side them. I can hear her thoughts now. 'Peeta Mellark, the baker's son, thinks he can be a hero?' On the other hand, Katniss's face appears sad. She knows that there isn't another option for me. I must stay here with Beetee and Finnick. Little do I know how much I will regret this decision.

Katniss finally speaks. "Don't worry, I'll see you after midnight." She slowly proceeds to plant a small kiss on my forehead, and then hurries off with Johanna into the forest.

Only ten, maybe twenty minutes later, the gold wire that had been hanging loosely from the tree is suddenly tight. Were Katniss and Johanna out of wire? Impossible. Beetee, looking confused, had guaranteed that they'd have more than enough slack. As Finnick approaches the wire, it makes a loud springing sound. From the forest, a few hundred metres of the wire jump back to the tree in small tangled bunches. It takes a few moments to register what had happened, but it seems that someone not half a kilometre away had cut the wire, foiling the plan. Enobaria, Brutus, and Chaff must have been aware of our intentions.

Finnick, the most able of the three of us left behind, gives us a worried look then bounds away in the direction the wire had come from. We knew Katniss was in danger. I limp after him, well aware that I won't be much help.

After a few minutes, I lose sight of Finnick, I'm alone, and lost. Silence. Boom! A cannon fires in the distance. One shot symbolizes the death of a tribute, but at this point, it could be anyone. Boom! Another cannon, another dead tribute.

I can just imagine the chaos that must be occurring down by the lake. The two deaths have probably eliminated any previous alliances, and any strategy.

I panic now, only thinking about her. "Katniss," I choke out, almost in tears. "Kaaaatnisss! Where are you?"

"Here, Peeta, here!" Her distant voice is in pain, but at least she's alive.

I run towards the voice, still screaming, "Katniss! Katniss!" This time, no answer. I do everything I can to run, but the roots of the trees and vines around me are not on my side, especially in the darkness of the night.

A third 'Boom!' echoes throughout the arena, but this time it wasn't a cannon. The lightning tree has been struck, but it doesn't matter, as the plan is already lost. Simultaneously, the earth shakes, and having just one good leg, I immediately fall to the ground. My head brutally hits the side of a rock as I fall, leaving me dazed. I'm lying flat on my back, too weak to even attempt getting up. The tops of the trees are the only things I am aware of. The trees, the sky, and the stars. The stars? The arena's sky was cloudy a few moments before, just as it was every day at midnight before that. But suddenly the storm is gone, leaving the sky cloudless. Something must be very wrong.

A hovercraft seems to materialize in the sky not a kilometre away. This hovercraft does not have the same crest on it that the Capitol's aircraft do. The only way it could possibly have gotten into the arena was if... the force field is down! Just then, I have a feeling that Beetee's plan was much larger than he revealed. It briefly lands around the area where Katniss's voice was coming from, and takes off again. A similar hovercraft appears above me, but this time, with the Capitol crest.

I touch my hand to where I hit my head. The warmth of scarlet blood quickly fills my hand, and the massive hovercraft lands beside me. The stars continue to twinkle above me as I slowly bleed to death, and I lose consciousness.


End file.
